The baryons after the snap
by MadCrazyChloe
Summary: Natasha can't get a hold of Clint after the snap and is worried so she goes to see if he and his family are ok. When she finds him they end up joining the other avengers to fix what Thanos has done. On hiatus
1. Finding Clint

IT had been 2 days since the snap. 2 days since half of the universe disappeared. All the remaining avengers (and rocket) went back to the compound, already working on how they can change what happened. No one was going to sit around thinking they couldn't fix this. They couldn't do that. They couldn't image going forwards without there friends, so they worked day in day out trying to figure out how to fix things.

Nat had been helping where she could but kept getting distracted in her thoughts. Since the snap she hadn't been able to get hold of clint it Laura. It wasn't uncommon for her partner to ignore her calls but Laura would always call her back unless... She could bring herself to think about what this could mean just continuing to call the family.

By the 3rd day she couldn't stand it any more. She had already been up since stupid o'clock trying to call them with the same results as always when she decided she couldn't just sit round here, she had to go check for herself. She wrote a note explaining what she was doing and put it on her bed and took one of the quinjets.

When she reached the Barton farm, the place seemed lifeless. She couldn't hear the kids playing, Laura's humming as she worked or clings annoying whistling. That instantly had her on high alert. There was always noise on the farm, and without it nothing felt right. She rushed to the house and entered.

It was clear kids loved in the house, toys were laying about the place with one board game laying in the middle,clearly mid game. Upon seeing what was on the game,the spy lost her usual calm demeanour and tears fell down her face.

It was covered in dust. She knew it wasn't from being out too long,Laura would never allow that.

No longer trying to be sneaky,Natasha yelled out into the quiet house"clint? Laura? Please it's nat"

"Nat?" A quiet voice said from the stairs. Even with it sounding so weak she could recognise that voice anywhere.

"Clint" she said running over to the stairs and he fell into her arms a sob escaping him.

"Where's Laura?" Nat questioned carefully but in her heart she already knew what his answer was going to be.

"Th-there all gone nat. One minuet they were here playing and the next..." He was cut off by more sobs wrecking through his body.

Nat couldn't say anything to comfort him, her own emotions from the past few days finally all coming out, as they sunk to the floor crying.

After what felt like hours clint finally spoke"why did they go?"

Nat really didn't want to tell him what had happened, knowing his emotions would lead him but couldn't lie to her partner. So she told him everything. About the stones, about thanos and about the battles and by the end of it a new wave of tears hit them both and they sat crying again for a few minuets.

"I'm going to kill him" clint finally said, standing up and walking over to his bow and arrows.

" do you plan to go alone?"

"Yes" is his only response as he puts his arrows over his shoulder and makes his way to the door.

"You can't beat him alone when we all failed together." Nats tone is calm, completely loosing her previous sadness.

"I have to try nat. I can't just sit here knowing the guy who killed my family is out there!"

"No one expects you to clint but you can't fight it you'll die"

"So?" His voice is quiet again now and nat nearly misses it but when she realises what he said she can't help the shocked look on her face.

"Clint we are going to bring them back and when we do they'll need you. You can't die." In the last line clint catches the pleading in nats tone and stops moving.

"Who's 'we'"

"The avengers. We are back together and this time we will win. Come back to the compound with us and we can all fight together." All pleading was gone from her voice, she only spoke in her normal calm voice until she added a small"please"

Clint let out a sigh and turn back around to look at her"fine but we are going to kill him."

And with that Clint and Nat went back to the compound,leaving the Barton house to stand unusually quiet, with out the normal noise of the happy family.

* * *

This is my idea about how Clint will rejoin the avengers. I'm tempted to write more about what happens when he gets there and how they try fix everything,let me know if you think I should do that.

Hope you enjoyed.


	2. Going to the compound

The ride back to the compound was mostly quiet. It made sense with everything that happened and yet it was still unnatural. Nat had known Clint for so long and they had grown so close and yet she had never seen him so quiet before. Even when things were bad he would usually get angry and yell or if he was sad he would mumble but here he was just silent, and it worried her out of her mind. Having had enough of her friend's silence, Nat turned the jet on auto-pilot and walked over to where he was sat with his head in his hands.

"Hey, you doing ok?" she questioned carefully.

All she got in reply was a few mumbles and the sound of Clint failing to hold back a sob. Instinctively, Nat pulled him into a hug and began reassuring him.

"It's ok. Well get them back I promise. It'll get better. "she repeated over and over again while he cried into her shoulder.

Eventually Clint ran out of tears and lifted his head up to look at Nat" sorry." He mumbled quietly.

"don't apologies idiot, your allowed to cry." Nat said in a joking tone she only used around the man.

"not just that…sorry for not helping or checking in…" he hung his head low while he spoke, and Nat almost missed his words.

"its fine, just don't do it again you worried me."

"ok…thanks"

They sat for a few hours in a more relaxed silence and eventually Clint fell asleep. When they reached New York, Nat slide out from her seat careful not to disturb Clint and took back control of the jet leading it down to the compounds landing bay.

Once it was parked Nat stood considering what to do. She could tell Clint needed sleep but also wanted to get him into the compound. It was decided what to do when she could see Steve walking towards the jet. She snuck off and intercepted him before he reached the jet.

"NAT" Steve yelled jumping in surprise. Nat promptly put her hand over his mouth looking back at the jet. Worry seeping into her usual calm face.

"quiet. I need your help." Those words along with the look on her face had Steve worried.

"Nat what wrong? What's happened? Do I need to get Bruce? Or tony? Or both? How about I- "Steve began to ramble as he nervously moved from foot to foot.

"no everyone's fine Steve. Relax. I just need you to carry Clint to his room for me. He needs the sleep, but I can't leave him there."

Upon hearing this Steve relaxed but when it sunk in he became worried again. why did he need the sleep? Why was he here? What was going on?

He decided it was best for him to keep his questions to himself and just motioned for Nat to lead the way.

When Steve saw Clint he understood why Nat didn't want to wake him. Even while asleep he looked exhausted. Like he hadn't slept in days. Steve couldn't help but stare at how different and weak the man looked now until Nat bumped his arm and he moved forwards and picked up Clint with ease.

Carrying Clint to his room was an easy task for Steve. Clint didn't weigh much anyway but with the way he's been after the snap he's lighter than ever, so Steve could get him to his room quickly. Not before coming across a few avenger who gave them odd looks but kept their mouths shut due to Nat's glare. Ones lint was placed in his bed, they both left the room and Steve opened his mouth to ask Nat what was going on only for her to speak first.

"ill explain it to everyone at once. Just give me a minuet. "she said and swiftly headed off to her own room leaving Steve confused in the hallway.

Once she was in her room nat fell to the floor and cried. Cried over the loss of her close friend and the children. Over the pain her best friend has and is in. And cried over the daunting task she had just committed to. Si she sat and cried and cried for what felt like hours until she gained control of herself again. still feeling sad, she got up and changed into more comfortable, relaxed clothes, washed her face to hide her previous tears and left her room to gather the others and explain what had happened while she was away.

Thank you for the reviews they are really motivating.I have decided to carry on this story but please bear with me this Is my first time writing for this fandom and I'm not very good at multi chapter fics.

Any ideas are welcome and if you see any mistakes please let me know since this hasn't been beta read.

Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed.


	3. Sharing the news

Stepping out of her room, Nat realised she couldn't collect all the remaining Avengers herself, so she turned to Tony's AI F.R.I.D.A.Y.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y. please call all the Avengers to the conference room."

"Certainly, miss Romanoff." And with that she headed down to the conference room to wait for the others.

It didn't take long for everyone to arrive. Half of them knew something was wrong because they had seen Steve carrying Clint through the compound, and the other half realised something was wrong when they saw the usually emotionless spy standing looking sad at the end of the table. One thing they had all learnt over the years was that Nat only showed emotions when they were very strong and even then, it was normally only little signs like a quirked lip which was her version of a laugh or the way her voice became slightly quieter when she was sad. But no one had ever seen her display her emotions so openly, and that fact alone made them incredibly worried.

When each of them entered, they would see her face and ask what's wrong, to only be given a wave of dismal from the spy.

When all of the remaining Avengers where there Steve finally broke the silence.

"you said you'd explain about Clint."

"wait Clint?" tony stood up hearing those words, losing his usual nickname for the archer over his worry about losing someone else.

"he's at the compound" Nat said in a monotone voice. At this tony sat down relived the man was safe.

"he'll be staying here again…and helping with your work." She would usual just say 'help with your plans to bring everyone back' so her reluctancy caught them all off guard.

"why are you speaking so cryptically nat. and I thought you would be more happy your best bud is at the compound even with your lack of emotions." Tony said pointing an accusing finger at said spy.

And suddenly Nat was up and behind tony with her weapon to his neck "shut up." She said through gritted teeth.

"Nat what's wrong?" Steve said, slowly moving towards the pair.

Happy tony would take this warning, Nat moved back over to her seat and slumped down into it, showing none of the grace she usually had. "you all know I went to the farm to find Clint."

That was met with a mixture of nods and affirmative noises.]

"well…...I found him…but…it was…. only…." she said it so quietly that they nearly missed it, but when the words sunk everyone knew what she couldn't say. And the realisation of what those words meant hit them all. Around the room, Steve failed to hold back tears, Bruce had to leave to calm down in case hulk decided he didn't like that information. Thor sat quietly seemingly remembering the pain he felt losing his family. And Tony's reaction was the most shocking, his face fell, and he began to sob. All of the avengers had grown close to the family over their time at the farm, but now tony understood the pain of seeing them disappear.

They stayed like that for the good part of an hour, all dealing with the news their own way until eventually F.R.I.D.A.Y.S voice cut through the room "Mrs Romanoff, Mr Barton appears to be having a nightmare." Before the AI had finished the word, the spy was already out of the room.

 **Thank you for reading i hope you enjoyed.**

 **These chapters may seem like a mess since I don't have a plan for this story I'm just writing so sorry.**

 **If you do have any idea for this series I'd love to hear them or just any other comments are greatly appreciated.**

 **Hope everyone has a good day.**


	4. Final chapter

It took years of research. After months of recovery but finally they managed it. They managed to get everyone back. People never lost the sadness of losing those they loved but managed to live with it. Clint went back to the farm with Nat as soon as they knew there plans had worked and found the lost Barton's. After that, Clint never left the farm. He fully retired and stayed around to watch his children grow up, until he eventually died.

Nat went to visit them occasionally to begin with. But every time she did, she felt the pain from losing them, so slowly she distanced herself from them and everyone else, going on solo missions constantly and leaving the Avengers and never speaking to any of them again. No one really knows how she died but fury brought the news to the original Avengers when she did.

Sorry guys this will be the last chapter. I recently got a job so now have to study and do that which has left me limited time to work on this hence the month between updates plus Ive lost the motivation for this story.

Thank you all so much for your comments and for following this I really appreciate it.


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